Russia upholds Serbia’s position on Kosovo

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia upholds Serbia’s position on Kosovo. After the talks with his Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic on Wednesday, Medvedev said this is Serbs’ privilege to solve this problem. “We realise that our Serbian friends assume paramount significance to the problem of Kosovo and Metohija. This issue is always on the agenda,” the Russian prime minister said. He stressed that Russia would upheld Serbia in this aspect. “Of course, we’ll back our Serbian friends. We will always support the stance that the Serbian leaders express,” he added. The Russian prime minister said he believes that political nuances, talks and key interest should be initiated by Serbia. “Otherwise, it’s Serbia that should promote the process. You should rivet high interest in its right resolution,” Medvedev said. He said, “Some time ago I felt more expectations are raised from Russia than from Serbia itself. It’s wrong. You should solve what position you will take.” This topic should be raised on the U.N. platform and at the talks with the EU, Medvedev added. On April 8, at the extraordinary government session Belgrade demanded a dialogue be resumed immediately with the Kosovar authorities under the EU auspices and refused to sign Pristina’s variant of an agreement to normalise relations. “Serbia cannot agree with the principles, which are recorded in the document, because they do not guarantee security to the Serbian population of Kosovo and Metohija,” Dacic said, adding that the signing of the agreement would not lead to the final resolution of the situation in the province. However, the government confirmed the commitment to searching for finding the solution to the Kosovar problem by peaceful means. Earlier, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said, “Without going into details Brussels declared an ultimatum to Belgrade. Its conditions cannot be accepted.” Upon the return from Brussels, Dacic said, “The talks with Pristina are a comedy. I told my French colleague Jean-Marc Ayrault that the dialogue was such as we lacked a carriage where we’d sign a capitulation.” He hinted to a railcar where Germany signed a capitulation in World War I. In 1940 the French authorities did the same.